The Tolowa (TOL) Athabaskan Lexicon and Text Collection Project: Recording the Last Speakers of the Tolowa Dee-ni' Language

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。托洛瓦迪尼语（Tolowa Dee-ni' language）是阿萨巴斯卡语系太平洋海岸语族的一个成员，现今在加州的史密斯河及其周边地区使用。它濒临死亡，只剩下三个发言者，其中两个相当老。这些演讲者代表了最后的机会，以深入了解曾经是一个多元化，充满活力的语言社区。由于太平洋沿岸方言链的所有其他成员都已奄奄一息，这几个说阿萨巴斯卡语的人代表了整个阿萨巴斯卡语系的一个亚群：太平洋沿岸分支的俄勒冈州亚群。因此，迫切需要记录生活Tolowa发言人的讲话。现有的语言文献是有限的;录音以及各种文本基本上都无法进入语言学界和部落社区。这项研究的成功完成将有利于阿萨巴斯卡和更广泛的语言学界以及托洛瓦迪尼部落社区。该项目的设计是作为一个合作的史密斯河牧场，俄勒冈州大学和德尔诺特县联合学区。该项目将提供必要的数据，使阿萨巴斯卡语言学界能够更好地了解阿萨巴斯卡动词、族内的音调发生以及太平洋海岸阿萨巴斯卡支系在更广泛的族内的地位;通过编制附有声音文件的托洛瓦词汇，支持托洛瓦语言和史密斯河牧场的文化保存和恢复工作;它将通过开发托洛瓦词汇和文本及视频语料库来支持托洛瓦教师的教学需求。该项目将增加Tolowa现有的数据库，以电子和印刷形式向广大受众提供该项目收集的数据和现有文本转录产生的数据。提供一个广泛的Tolowa文本和词汇数据库将确保对该语言的语音，形态，句法，语义和语用进行彻底的分析。此外，更好地了解如何Tolowa涉及历史上的阿萨巴斯卡语系，以及Tolowa本身的发展，如语调和语气将进行研究。该项目将首次提供资金，以清点现有录音，创建一个可搜索的数据库，其中包括发言者姓名、时间索引和每个录音的摘要。在项目实施过程中所做的记录也将被纳入该目录，从而提供了部落所拥有的所有记录材料的全面记录。语言和文化是内在联系的。一个定义明确的文化的保存取决于语言的保存。这是记录和保存托洛瓦·迪尼的关键时刻。由于只剩下三个流利的使用者，这种语言濒临灭绝。托洛瓦人离失去他们的语言只差一代人了。该项目旨在通过语言文献和向部落社区提供有关Tolowa Dee-ni' Athabaskan语言的材料，帮助Rancheria成员继续稳定其独特的语言、生活方式和文化，从而实现繁荣。此外，提供一个广泛的基础文件的语言，期待已久的阿萨巴斯卡语言学界，将提供一个更好的了解家庭作为一个整体。如果语言学家要了解阿萨巴斯卡家族如何融入北美语言学和文化的更广泛的马赛克，托洛瓦语是必不可少的。对以前的材料进行数字化处理，将确保有关托洛瓦的早期语言工作能够存档，供今后使用，培训部落成员如何制作档案质量的录音和管理大量语言数据，将使部落社区有能力在本项目结束后继续进行记录和存档工作。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The Tolowa Dee-ni' language, a member of the Pacific Coast Group of the Athabaskan language family, is spoken today in and around Smith River, California. It is on the verge of death, with only three speakers remaining, two of whom are quite elderly. These speakers represent the final opportunity to gain insight into what was once a diverse, vibrant linguistic community. With all other members of its Pacific coast dialect chain already moribund, these few speakers represent the only remaining representatives of an entire sub-group of the Athabaskan language family: the Oregon subgroup of the Pacific Coast branch. Thus there is an urgent need to document the speech of the living Tolowa speakers. Existing documentation of the language is limited; recordings as well as various texts are essentially inaccessible to both the linguistics community and the tribal community. The successful completion of the research will benefit the Athabaskan and the broader linguistics community as well as the Tolowa Dee-ni' tribal community. The project is designed as a collaboration of Smith River Rancheria, the University of Oregon and the Del Norte County Unified School District. The project will provide needed data which will enable the Athabaskan linguistics community to better understand the Athabaskan verb, tonogenesis within the family, and the place of the Pacific Coast Athabaskan sub-branch within the broader family; support the Tolowa language and culture preservation and restoration efforts of the Smith River Rancheria by developing a Tolowa lexicon with accompanying sound files; and it will support the instructional needs of teachers of Tolowa through developing a Tolowa lexicon and a text and video corpus. This project will increase the existing corpus of Tolowa data, by making both the data collected in the project and that generated by the transcription of existing texts available to a wide audience in electronic and print forms. Making available an extensive database of Tolowa text and lexicon will ensure that a thorough analysis of the phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of the language can now take place. Additionally, a better understanding of how Tolowa relates historically to the Athabaskan language family, as well as developments within Tolowa itself, such as intonation and tone will be researched. This project will for the first time provide the funding to take inventory of existing recordings, creating a searchable database with speaker names, time indexes, and summaries of what is on each recording. Recordings made during the course of this project will also be incorporated into this catalogue, thus providing a comprehensive record of all recorded materials in the possession of the Tribe.Language and culture are intrinsically linked. The preservation of a well-defined culture depends upon the preservation of the language. This is a critical time for the documentation and preservation of Tolowa Dee-ni'. With only three fluent speakers remaining, the language teeters on the brink of extinction. The Tolowa people are literally one generation away from losing their language. The project is designed to assist the members of the Rancheria to prosper through the continued stabilization of their distinct language, life ways and culture through language documentation and making materials about the Tolowa Dee-ni' Athabaskan language available to the tribal community. Further, providing an extensive base of documentation about the language, long awaited by the Athabaskan linguistics community, will provide a better understanding of the family as a whole. If linguists are to understand how the Athabaskan family fits into the broader mosaic of North American linguistics and cultures, the Tolowa language is essential. Digitizing previous materials will ensure that earlier linguistic work on Tolowa will be archived for future use and training tribal members on how to create archival-quality recordings and manage large amounts of linguistic data will empower the tribal community to continue documentary and archival efforts beyond the end of this project.